Saturday, March 31, 2012

What roles will we play during this Holy Week? When we read and hear the stories of Jesus’ last week on earth, with what characters in the drama will we identify?

O Lord,

Cause us to take the time to reflect.Cause us to have the courage to be challenged.Cause us to have the vulnerability to be hurt.Cause us to have the trust to be faithful.Cause us to have the desire to be drawn in.Cause us to have the imagination to be present.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

An interesting fact: the Earth’s core makes up less than 50% of its volume while Mercury’s core makes up around 80% of that planet’s volume.

An important question: how much of our life is made up of a still, calm, peaceful core in which we pray without ceasing, in which we constantly commune with God, and from which we experience and deal with the chaos of life?

O God, make us aware of that core within us.

O God, lead us to nurture that core that it might grow.

O God, grant that by the time our life on Earth is over, our core will be the vast majority of our spiritual volume.

Perhaps—and sadly—the most vicious hate is sometimes expressed by people who think that they have a religious and even “Christian” motivation for their hate, for it may be that no one hates more thoroughly and more dangerously than those who believe their hate is sanctioned by God.

Please, God—let us never forget and let us never stop living in the light of the great truth that you are Love and that your Son our Savior loved perfectly and that we who are your worshipers and his followers can be, with the help of your Spirit, growing every day in our ability to love with your love.

Please, God—protect those who are hated both from those who hate them and from the life-draining response of hating their haters.

Please, God—through your Spirit and grace bring about more love and less hate; through your people’s cultivation and practice of your love bring about more love and less hate.

Pleases, God—fill us so much with your love that hate—and even its lazy cousin apathy—become impossible for us.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

We confess that sometimes, even in our young or middle or advanced adulthood, we are driven by the lingering fears of childhood and insecurities of adolescence to respond to situations and to people in ways that are not helpful to them or to us because they do not promote maturity in our spirit and integrity in our relationships.

We acknowledge that in this life we will never be fully formed or fully mature or fully grown.

We affirm that in this this life we can every day become more fully formed and more fully mature and more fully grown.

So help us today to grow up a little bit more—to grow up a little bit more into who we are and to grow up a little bit more in Christ in whom we find our true completeness and our true humanity.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sometimes, O God, we do things that we know are wrong and bad and, as painful as it is, we recognize our sin and implore you for the gifts of grace and faith that we might turn away from those things.

More difficult for us, O God, is to recognize those ways in which the good things we do and the good ways we live can become sinful and thus can become ways that put us in need of the gifts of grace and faith that we might turn away from those things.

Such ways become sinful when we

become impressed with our goodness orcompare our goodness favorably with that of others orbelieve that our goodness earns us status with you orconclude that doing good equals being goodorare so good that no one can stand to be around us.

Today, O God, call our attention to the sin of being bad and to the sin of being good—and give us grace and faith to repent, to turn around and go the other way.

Deliver us from the evil of evil.Deliver us from the evil of goodness.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

On this St. Patrick’s Day, when we remember the man of whom legend holds that he drove all the snakes from Ireland, we thank you, O Lord, that in your design even the snakes, the buzzards, and the termites play a vital role.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

“I’d help people more if I weren’t so over-committed.”“I’d spend more time in prayer if I weren’t so busy.”“I’d care more about the poor if I weren’t so occupied making a living.”“I’d show more grace if people weren’t so irritating.”“I’d take more chances if I weren’t so afraid.”“I’d take better care of myself if I weren’t so tired.”“I’d read more if I weren’t so involved in my favorite TV shows.”“I’d observe the Sabbath if I weren’t so pressed for time.”“I’d trust God more if I weren’t so worried.”

Cause us, O God, to beware the “I’ds” of March—and of every day of every other month, too.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

As we today celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we be encouraged by the twin realities that in him we will one day be raised to new life and that in him we have on this day been raised to new life.

Friday, March 9, 2012

--for the songs of the morning birds,--for the aroma of freshly brewed coffee,--for the nudging of a beloved pet,--for the sunrise and the sunset,--for the gentle rain,--for the reading of a good book,--for the conversation with a friend,--for the sound of bat meeting ball,--for the rising of flowers from their bulbs,--for the blooming of bushes and trees,--for the good memories of departed loved ones,--for the touch of a loved one’s hand,--for the time spent with and the time spent away,--for the notes and words of a favorite song,--for the colors of a rainbow and--for the glass of cold water—

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Give us the wisdom we need to make sound ones.Give us the courage we need to make hard ones.Give us the flexibility we need to make tentative ones.Give us the perspective we need to make effective ones.Give us the love we need to make selfless ones.Give us the humility we need to make shared ones.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

In our worship of you today, O God, let us be reminded that your Son said that he “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected…, and be killed, and after three days rise again,” and that he then said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”; in being reminded, cause us to be challenged, inspired, and empowered.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Will we leave it wrapped, grateful for its beauty but unwilling to put its contents to use?

Will we unwrap it partially, pleased to see what we see but failing to enjoy and to employ it as it could be enjoyed and employed in its fullness?

Or

will we tear into it, squeal with delight, sigh with contentment, and stare in wonder at a gift so graciously given, so undeservedly received, and so joyfully embraced? Will we play with it, treasure it, and use it so that it will enhance our life, others’ lives, and your pleasure as it is meant to do?

For the gift of this day we give you thanks, O God.

Help us to use it in the ways that you intend as you in your great love give it to us.

Let us pray ...

About Prayer 365

The prayers that appear at Prayer 365 are written and published by Michael L. Ruffin. Permission is granted to use or adapt these prayers in public worship with the condition that if a prayer is reproduced in a printed order of worship attribution is given. Permission is also granted to link to a prayer at this site provided that a link back to this blog is provided. All other rights are reserved. All Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.